Journey Through Deep Time

Deep Time, Geology, and the Solar System

• Deep time refers to history beyond human memory and records, with the Precambrian time consisting of the Archean and Proterozoic eons.
• The Phanerozoic eon has lasted 542 million years, while the Precambrian eon lasted 4100 million years.
• The Paleozoic era and Silurian period were characterized by the "invasion of land," while the Triassic period was the first dinosaur and the Cretaceous period saw the extinction of dinosaurs.
• The Cenozoic era saw the appearance of the first Homo sapiens during the Pleistocene era.
• Geology is the study of the earth, with empirical evidence taking priority over revelation or authority.
• Prior to the 1800s, myths and legends were used to explain geologic processes, while catastrophism was the belief that geologic features could be explained by catastrophic events.
• Hutton discovered the uniformitarianism theory in the 1800s, recognizing the significance of geologic time and that the earth is much older than 6000 years.
• Actualism suggests that the "laws of nature" are inviolable and accounts for events beyond human history.
• The universe is made up of numerous galaxies and empty space, with matter not evenly distributed and most objects moving away from us due to the accelerating expansion of the universe.
• The universe is about 13.7 billion years old and is billions of light years in diameter, with a finite edge based on current observations.
• The solar system consists of planets that orbit in about the same plane, with the sun being 99.9% of the mass of the solar system.
• The origin theory of the solar system posits that a cold cloud of dust and gas begins to condense and rotate, with the dense cloud in the center collapsing and igniting as the sun, while planets form through accretion and differentiation of materials.